Khronos

English language edition

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Product Description

The Master Clocksmith came to speak to me this morning revealing a fabulous secret... We can travel in time, my friend! Not just dreaming about it like my astrologist does, but actually going there. I can hardly believe it! There seem to be periods in our future where the strength of our walls will be nothing compared to the strength of our collective faith. Or an even stranger future epoch where the people will rule themselves. The Master Clocksmith has convinced me that our power is now limitless. Our lands and domains are ours forever. My opponents will not wait and my Lords have already started preparing for their journeys. My dear friend, come with me, for from this day forward, I will be remembered as the king who forged our own destiny... literally!

I’ve always had somewhat of a fascination with time travel. I can
remember reading H.G. Wells’ Time Machine, and watching
numerous movies that involved traveling through time. The
concept intrigues me, and I’ve always felt it would make a great
subject for a game. Up until Khronos, I’ve played two games
using the theme – Time Pirates and Time Agent – and neither
seemed to really adequately capture the theme in a smooth and
exciting game. When I heard about Khronos at the Spiel in
Essen, I had high hopes that this would be the game that truly
did justice to the concept of time travel.

Khronos created quite a stir in Essen, with folks rushing to grab a
copy of this loudly proclaimed limited edition. There was a huge
crowd around the publisher’s small booth, and the mayhem
resembled in a smaller fashion the absurd Nintendo Wii
Christmas rush. Fortunately, no one was trampled, and there
were no fisticuffs. The truly bizarre aspect to this frenzy was
that I could find no one who had actually played the game,
meaning everyone was succumbing to some fairly impressive
hype. Would the game deliver?

I am happy to say that Khronos is a fine and intriguing game.
While the game isn’t as smooth as I’d like, it does present
players with decision-after-decision, and requires very careful
and clever play in order to succeed. Played on a large board in
three different “ages”, what occurs in one age can ripple forward
and have dramatic effects on the future. Visualizing the results
of one’s actions can be tough, but mastering this process makes
for a fascinating game filled with skill and cunning.

The large, tri-fold board depicts three identical maps, shaded
slightly different to represent three ages in time: might, religion
and reason. Mountains, plains, forest, rivers and hamlets are
pre-printed on the board, over which is superimposed a grid
pattern upon which various buildings will be constructed and
dominions formed. Forests and mountains only have an effect
when playing with less than five players, generally requiring
players to pay additional construction cards when erecting
buildings. Rivers pose a greater difficulty, as only larger civic
buildings can be constructed on river spaces. Buildings come in
three varieties – military, religious and civil – and each type has
three different sizes. The artwork on the thick cardboard
counters is quite good.

Players each receive a batch of control cubes, 4 coins (“ecus”), 2
adventurer pawns and four construction cards. The cards are in
three colors, corresponding with the three types of buildings.
Players receive four new construction cards each turn, but must
discard unused cards at the end of each turn. Use ‘em or
lose ‘em. Players unhappy with their selection of cards may
discard any number of cards at the beginning of their turn and
draw fresh ones, but this costs a hefty 2 ecus. It can pay off, but
is quite risky. This is an aspect of the game that has caused
consternation amongst many gamers, and the designers have
already put forward an alternative. Personally, I haven’t had a
problem playing with the rules as written, and feel part of the
challenge is doing the best with the hand of cards one is dealt.

A player’s turn consists of possibly moving his adventurers
through time, and using the cards to construct buildings.
Buildings are only constructed on the first two boards – Might
and Religion – and never on the Age of Reason board. Rather,
buildings will ripple forward to the Age of Reason. To move
through time, a player simply pays 1 ecu and moves one of his
adventurers to the board he desires. An adventurer must be
present on a board in order to construct buildings, or to obtain
income. Thus, players will generally move their adventurers
several times during the course of the game in order to achieve
their construction and income objectives. A player may play two
construction cards for each adventurer present on a board.

Constructing a building requires cards of the matching color and
in the amount specified on the building being constructed. Small
buildings, which occupy only one square on the board, require
the expenditure of one matching card. Medium-sized buildings
require 2 or 3 cards, while large buildings – castles, monasteries
and cities – require five matching cards to construct. Since
players only possess four cards on a turn, a large building cannot
be instantly constructed. Rather, smaller buildings can be
upgraded to larger buildings by playing the difference in matching
cards.

The construction or upgrading of a building earns the player 1
ecu on the Age or Might board, and 2 ecus on the Age of Religion
board. When constructed, the new building may be placed on
any empty space on the board occupied by a player’s adventurer,
and it is marked by the player’s cube. However, the placement
must respect two important rules:

Rule of Dominion. A domain is either an individual building, or
several connected buildings. A military or religious building
cannot be placed so that it will join two domains. Only civil
buildings can be used to join domains.

Rule of Hierarchy. Within each domain, the most prestigious –
that is, the largest – military and religious buildings must be
unique. For example, if the largest military building in a domain is
medium-sized keep, a player may not construct a new keep in
that domain. When the joining of domains causes this rule to be
violated, one of the conflicting buildings must be downsized. The
procedure to determine which building is downsized is similar to
that found in the conflict resolution process of Tigris & Euphrates. On the Age of Might board, the military strengths of
the two domains are compared, with the weaker one being
forced to downsize the conflicting building. The same procedure
is used on the Age of Religion board, but religious strength is
compared instead. The Rule of Hierarchy does not apply on the
Age of Reason board.

These two rules must constantly be kept in mind when building
or upgrading. They are the source of the most confusion during
the course of the game, but they can also be used to cause
dramatic changes on the board and affect one’s opponents
tremendously.

Whenever a medium-sized or large building is constructed on the
Might or Religion boards, that building may ripple forward in time
to the other boards. Small buildings never ripple forward. An
identical building is placed on the matching location on
all “future” boards, provided this placement doesn’t violate the
rules of Dominion or Hierarchy. If it does violate these rules, the
building does not ripple forward.

If a building does ripple forward, it will completely displace any
building that it may cover, even partially. This can be quite
dramatic, as it is possible to completely destroy an opponent’s
building on one board by constructing a building on an earlier
board. This is a very nasty and effective tactic.

Civic buildings ripple forward intact to the Age of Reason board.
However, when military and religious buildings ripple forward to
the Age of Reason board, they appear as ruins, which are
depicted on the reverse of these counters. These ruins can be
renovated by the placement of the proper number of cubes onto
the ruins. In order to do this, the player must have his
adventurer present on the Age of Reason board, and play a card
of the matching color for each cube placed. Renovated buildings
are worth more when income is paid following the fourth and
seventh rounds, so it is a task that is frequently pursued.

Aside from the immediate income earned from the construction or
upgrading of a building, players must also work towards more
substantial income by controlling domains. At the end of the
fourth and seventh turns, each domain on each board is
examined to determine income. On the Age of Might board, a
player controls a domain if he controls the most prestigious
military building in that domain. That player receives in income
the printed value of all civic buildings in that domain. On the Age
of Religion board, the procedure is the same, except the player
controlling the most prestigious religious building in a domain
earns the income.

The Age of Reason board is a bit different. Players are vying for
control of the civic buildings. Players may place cubes onto the
civic buildings, and the player having the most cubes present in a
domain controls it and earns income equal to the printed value of
all military and religious buildings in that domain. Thus, there is a
constant struggle to control a domain, and players often spend
considerable time and effort placing cubes onto the civic
buildings. To place a cube onto a civic building, a player must
spend a blue construction card. The limit of cubes that can be
placed onto a civic building is equal to its printed value.

The driving force of the game is the formation, joining and
separation of domains, as control of domains generate the bulk
of the wealth in the game. As mentioned, the construction of a
building can have dramatic effects not only on the board upon
which it was erected, but on future boards as well. In addition,
players can pay to destroy small buildings, whether they own
them or not. This, too, can have a dramatic effect, and is often
used to divide powerful domains. Visualizing how the
construction or destruction of a building can be used to one’s
advantage on the present and future boards is a critical skill, and
when wielded effectively, can be immensely powerful and
gratifying.

In the seventh and final round, an assessment is made after
each player’s turn to determine his final income. Thus, after a
player completes his turn in that round, he has no further
interest in the fate of his domains. While this mechanism didn’t
work in Risk 2210, it works well here. Otherwise, if a final
assessment wasn’t made until all players took their turns, the
final player would have a significant advantage. The player with
the most money at the end of the seventh turn is victorious.

I was fearful that the game would become a brain-burner and
prone to over-analyzing, and visions of a 4-hour marathon
haunted my dreams. Fortunately, those fears were unfounded,
as the limited number of actions a player has on his turn
translated into a rather fast-moving 2-hour game. While there
are ample opportunities for clever and dramatic moves, I’ve not
found that players take too long to analyze their options and
make their moves. These have been pleasant surprises.

Disappointments? My main disappointment is that the game still
doesn’t do justice to the time travel theme. The rippling effect is
dramatic and clever, but the concept of time travel is just so rich
with possibilities that I can’t help but feel more can be done with
it. While Khronos is a VERY good game, it still doesn’t do proper
justice to the rich concept of time travel and its possible
ramifications.

There are also numerous inconsistencies in the mechanisms
employed. The Age of Might and Religion boards work in a similar
fashion, but the Age of Reason board operates very different.
Whereas controlling the most prestigious building in a domain is
critical on the Might and Religion boards, a majority battle over
civil buildings occurs on the Reason board. Dominion and
Hierarchy rules apply on the Might and Religion boards, but have
no bearing on the Reason board. Buildings cannot be
constructed on rivers, except for medium and large civic
buildings. Such inconsistencies in mechanisms are not the norm
in most European style games, and are a source of confusion
here. They are also easy to overlook, causing rules gaffes. I’m
confident that in the hands of an experienced developer, a more
consistent flow of mechanism and rules could have been
devised.

In spite of these drawbacks, Khronos is an intriguing and clever
game, one requiring skillful and creative play. I always enjoy
game systems that give players a wide variety of options, but do
so in a manner that doesn’t cause turns to drag on and on or
feel repetitive. Khronos packs a lot of decisions and
opportunities for clever play into a tight 2-hour time frame.
Players must adapt their plans to the cards drawn, which, for me,
is part of the challenge. Those requiring more control, however,
can play with the designer’s variant, which should alleviate their
concerns.

I am well pleased with my decision to succumb to the hype
and “must buy” frenzy and secure a copy. Khronos is a fantastic
first effort by designers Ludovic Vialla and Arnaud Urbon, and I
look forward to further trips in their time machine.

Other Resources for Khronos:

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